May 24, 2014

The Ministry of Health said it identified 5,155 confirmed cases of Chikungunya from the confirmation of the presence of the disease in Haiti, the Department of the West is the most affected with 70% of cases. Minister, Florence Guillaume Duperval, confirmed that a fumigation campaign nationwide was launched by the Ministry to deal with this epidemic.

A nursing college student has died in the Eastern Province after contracting the swine flu (H1N1) virus, said the region’s Health Affairs Directorate.

Her death is the first caused by the virus in two years.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry announced one MERS death and four infections on Saturday, adding that two patients have recovered. The victim was a 40-year-old woman, who was admitted to a hospital in Riyadh on May 8. The infections were in Riyadh, Madinah and Qunfuda.

An infectious disease consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, ruled out the possibility that the female student’s death implies the reappearance of the H1N1.

“It is still too early to draw conclusions on such a case before examining the details,” said the source.

“While the student tested negative for the coronavirus, her tests came back positive for the H1N1 virus,” the directorate said.

“The student had already been hospitalized at the King Fahd Military Medical Complex after she became critical after failing to respond to treatment.”

The deputy health minister for planning and development denied rumors that pharmaceutical companies were responsible for the spread of coronavirus in the Kingdom.

Dr. Mohammad Kheshaim told Al-Watan daily that the World Health Organization (WHO) monitors pharmaceutical companies worldwide. He noted that since the world has become increasingly connected, a virus can easily be transported from one country to another and the WHO cannot simply watch diseases spread without intervening.

The two Dutch MERS patients are on the mend. Moreover, there is no evidence that people who have had contact with the patients, close contact is also infected with the virus. That the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) reported today.

The patients, a man and woman, were infected with the dangerous lung virus during a joint trip to Saudi Arabia. The two are related. They were diagnosed MERS after returning to the Netherlands and were admitted to the hospital where they are nursed in strict isolation, as did the RIVM announced last week. The two are still in hospital.

Around 80 people, including the tour group, a number of family members and people who have had contact with the two patients before the disease was known, contact were investigated. Up to now, the results of the tests that have been carried out negative with them, according to the RIVM today.

In order to rule out other infections with certainty these tests are repeated in the coming weeks.

Dr. Samir Rifai Director of the Epidemiology Unit and surveillance at the Ministry of Health, said that there is still no confirmed cases infected with "Corona", pointing out that the Ministry of Health since the announcement of the emergence of the disease even conducted a screening approximately 9500 sample suspicion of the disease was confirmed that all the samples are negative and disease-free with the exception of one case of an engineer at the age of 28 years is coming from Saudi Arabia.

He said in his interview for "the people of Egypt," he once suspected it was carried out the necessary tests, was detained in Sadr hospital, and the family to visit him through the glass insulator.

And to the text of the interview ..

First of all, what the severity of the disease?

The danger of the disease in that the cases are exposed to infection so far are suffering from chronic diseases, as well as cases that are mixed with wounded.

whether the virus threatens Egypt?

Egypt is more country, which may be exposed to the risk of "Corona", although it has not yet hurt him only one case, but the danger lies in that Egypt has nearly 2.5 million citizen employment in Saudi Arabia as well as more of the country from which the performers for Hajj and Umrah.

What are the measures taken by the Ministry of Health to confront this danger?

There are procedures for disease surveillance and tracking of cases of patients suffering from flu, also conducts ministry examinations comprehensive on all arrivals from Saudi Arabia and overseas samples and cases that were suspected them are isolated in hospital diets or chest;, as well as be given to educate travelers about the definition of the disease and how it is spread and ways to prevention as well as giving guidance to passengers during the performance of Umrah.

and the cost of these tests?

The cost of testing a sample of emergency departments in 1000 pounds[US$140].

Until the date of 22 May 2014, Guinea has recorded 146 confirmed cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever with 95 deaths.

Three (3) new confirmed cases were recorded including two Télimélé and 1 Guékédou.

To date, eight (8) confirmed positive patients are currently hospitalized six (6) Guékédou and two (2) Télimélé.

As in Conakry, no confirmed cases of Ebola have been recorded since April 26.

The home is a home Télimélé wherein depth by a joint Ministry of Health and partners (WHO and MSF) team investigations are ongoing. Meanwhile, significant steps are taken to identify the outbreak:

- The establishment of a center for appropriate treatment;

- Identification of all contacts;

- Awareness coupled with the distribution of hygiene kits in the villages of cases and contacts.

To date, 173 contacts are being followed in the country including:

Prefecture Guékédou touch 132 s with a rate of contact tracing of 98% and 41 contacts were identified in the Prefecture Télimélé.

Despite progress in the fight against this epidemic Ebola, the Management Committee epidemics emergencies and disasters appeals to the entire population for the implementation and enforcement measures of individual and collective protection in homes and public places.

In prefectures continued to record new cases (Guékédou and Télémilé) energetic measures are taken by the Government and partners to limit the spread of the epidemic and identify.

The Ministry of Health's website was useless during the worst of the outbreak because it evidently ceased to be updated sometime in 2011. Now it's even worse: Someone claiming to be an Indonesian has hacked the site.

You would think that when something serious breaks out in a poor country, some of the health aid it receives would be earmarked for online health communication. Even if the local population doesn't have computers, it likely has mobiles. And more aid may follow if the rest of the world can log in and see what's going on.

Kawachi and others argue that inequality breaks down social values, such as trust and support, that protect against both physical and mental illness. In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett of the University of York in the United Kingdom took the argument even further. They claim that the reason more unequal countries like the United States see higher rates of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses is because inequality causes “social corrosion” that damages the individual psyche.

Others aren't convinced. John Lynch, an epidemiologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, says that although he started out as a “true believer” in the income inequality hypothesis, a string of negative and equivocal studies turned him into a skeptic.

Back in a 2004 paper, for example, Lynch and colleagues reviewed 98 cross-national studies and found “little evidence” of a consistent link between income inequality and health, although the United States displayed a more robust association than others. Working on well established public health goals such as reducing smoking and improving the living conditions of the poor will likely have more direct health impacts than targeting relative income gaps, he says.

Even if the correlations Kawachi and others have found hold up, there's no strong evidence that income inequality, per se, is directly damaging people's health, says Angus Deaton, an economist at Princeton University. In American cities and states where there are large proportions of African-Americans, for example, racism, poor health care, and political disenfranchisement could just as easily explain poor health outcomes as income inequality, he says.

Deaton argues that extreme inequality is a risk to health chiefly because it skews politics to favor the rich and powerful in society. “I get angry” over Wilkinson's claim that psychological stress is the primary culprit, because it completely deflects from the real issues,” he says.

In just a few months, a virus new to the Americas has made itself quite at home in the Caribbean.

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) is reporting more than 9,000 confirmed cases of chikungunya virus and more than 10 times that number of suspected cases.

And health officials in Florida are warning that at least four people -- all with recent travel to the Caribbean -- have tested positive for chikungunya, although there is no local spread as yet.

The mosquito-borne virus -- it's pronounced chik-un-GUHN-ya -- is widespread in Asia and Africa and is considered endemic in some regions. But until late last year, cases in the Americas were imported by travelers, rather than being homegrown infections.

In December, the World Health Organization reported that an investigation into possible dengue fever in St. Martin turned up two confirmed, four probable, and 20 suspected cases of chikungunya.

The patients had not traveled, indicating the first local transmissions.

Since then, the virus has spread rapidly in the region. As of May 16, the PAHO was reporting 4,542 confirmed cases in the French- and Spanish-speaking islands and another 4,853 cases in the English- and Dutch-speaking islands.

The agency also reported more than 100,000 suspected cases, divided roughly equally between the two linguistic groupings. There have been seven deaths, all in the French- and Spanish-speaking islands.

With the exception of a few dozen imported cases, all of the patients acquired the disease in their home islands, the PAHO said.

Recovered and discharged cases that previously tested positive and are now negative: 2 cases

Total number of new deaths cases: 1 death (Previously announced case)

Summary of current status of new cases:

• 1 stable case

• 2 cases without symptoms

• 1 case is critical in the ICU

Summary of the cases:

a) In Riyadh:

1. An 80-year-old female. She developed respiratory symptoms on May 20, 2014. She was admitted to a government hospital on May 23, 2014. She is currently in the ICU. May Allah grant her speedy recovery.

B) In Al Madina:

1. A 48-year-old male suffering from Diabetes. He developed respiratory symptoms on May 18, 2014. He was admitted to a government hospital on May 22, 2014. His condition is stable.

C. In Gonfodah:

1. A 25-year-old male. He does not have any symptoms. He has been in contact with a confirmed case and is isolated at home.

2. A 28-year-old male. He does not have any symptoms. He has been in contact with a confirmed case and is isolated at home.

Deaths from previously reported cases:

1. A 40-year-old female was admitted to a government hospital in Riyadh. Her case was previously reported on May 8, 2014. She passed away on May 23, 2014. May Allah rest her soul.

Recovery from previously reported cases:

1. A 33-year-old female, discharged from a government hospital in Jeddah on May 24, 2014

2. A 29-year-old male, discharged from a government hospital in Jeddah on May 24, 2014.